1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device can be to be used for conducting away urine and excreta by a person relieving him or herself, said device assembled from a sheets of web material to form funnel shaped hose structure having cop and bottom portions with inlet and discharge openings thereat, respectively.
The present invention was devised to serve persons who for whichever reason wish to urinate while standing up or to empty a device such as a stomal collection bag (stoma bag) as discrietly as possible. Due to the free fall height and the dispersion angle, which is difficult to control, the substance to be evacuated often sprays and splashes about in the form of droplets that end up outside the toilet bowl or on the user's clothes.
2. Background Art
DE 43 43 789 C2 discloses a urine discharge device comprising a flexible hose member having openings at both ends and made of a material which dissolves in water at least partly and with some delay. This urine discharge device in hose form has a funnel shaped inlet, manual holding means at the top as well as a discharge opening in its bottom portion.
DE 44 43 182 C2 discloses a device for accepting and discharging urine from a person particularly a human male relieving himself. This prior device comprises a flexible hose element made of a sheet of a web material such as paper folded to form two superimposed layers and having a manual holding portion, an inlet portion and a discharge portion. A multitude of said layers are integrally connected together in a longitudinal channel at their common front edge in a quasi endless succession,
U.S. Pat. 4,608,046 discloses a device for evacuating urine from women which comprises a tube to be introduced in the labia. This tube is flexible in order to con form to the individual user's physical features.
All these above described prior devices present a major problem when the inlet is to be opened. With the device collapsed and flat, the device is space saving and inexpensive to transport and simple to store; in contrast, spreading it to open the inlet is complicated as the user usually has only one free hand to accomplish the task.